Fifth Year: A Different Take
by Thunderbird0106
Summary: In which Harry starts thinking. Features somewhat Intelligent!Harry. Hint of canon pairs.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter was going through his entire vocabulary of curse words, and living with Ron Weasley nine months out of the year for four years meant they were quite extensive. Harry and his cousin (a fact none of them were happy about), Dudley had been cornered by two Dementors and Dudley being the bright boy that he was, had managed to punch Harry and knock his wand out of his hand as a result. Yes, Harry was being sarcastic as well as swearing, a fit that would have made him proud had he been in any other situation.

As it was, he was on all fours, crawling around blindly trying to locate his wand. It was testament to his desperation that he had shouted "Lumos", even though he didn't have the wand in his hand, and the wand had flared brightly. He didn't have time to consider it at that time, but now that he was sitting on his bedroom, his aunt and uncle fussing over a drooling Dudley in the next room, he couldn't stop thinking about it. The fact that he had done magic without his wand, although from his wand, hmm, that needed some thinking, but also the fact that he had received ministry letter for his Patronus charm but not the Lumos, had opened up all sorts of questions and planning, things he wasn't ready to share yet. Any other time, Hedwig would have already been winging towards Hermione with his list of questions. But not this time, her most unhelpful letters this summer had put her squarely in his irritation list.

He did manage to write to her asking for some reading suggestions, citing boredom, which she was very happy to help with and had sent him her owl order catalogue from Flourish and Blotts. He had been surprised to find an additional letter from Ginny Weasley and another owl order catalogue from a used bookshop in Diagon Alley. He was torn between irritation knowing that it was common knowledge what he wrote in his letters, and gratitude towards Ginny for the catalogue, since the owl order books from Flourish and Blotts looked pretty expensive to him. He had only a handful of Galleons left from his last years visit to Gringotts. But he was able to order 'Wandless and Wordless: Magic of the Mind' from that used bookstore.

He received his package the day before he was picked up by the Order. Inside was a letter apologising for the fact that they didn't have his book on stock but they had sent another book and hoped it would come useful. Harry seethed as he tore away the brown paper packaging; inside was an old book whose peeling letters proclaimed 'Mind Magyc'. He leafed through the book he didn't order but spent his galleons on anyway. It was about some magic called Legilimency and Oclumency, reading minds and preventing our mind being read. It reminded him of Snape, and how he seemed to look right into his head. He shook his head and tossed the book into his trunk and considered writing another letter to the store.

He thought about it, but didn't act on it until he reached the Order Headquarters, which was another source of irritation altogether. It looked like he would be last person to know everything, including the fact that his Godfather was the heir of one of the most notoriously dark wizarding families in UK.

Seeing Sirius however, halted his thoughts from going into fully blown rage. Sirius was the last living Black, at least in name, the owner of the house. But it was clear from his bearing that he was far from happy here. The order members brushed him off same way they did Harry. Harry felt like this was Sirius' own version of #4 Private Drive. He was a bit cold towards them, but Harry refrained from shouting at Ron and Hermione after they tried to explain, lamely he might add, how they could not write him anything important. Ron was looking at him like he could blow up any moment, Hermione was chewing on her lips, eyes too bright. Harry rubbed his face, as if trying to wipe the scowl residing there, and sighed, "Look, I can't lie and say I'm not mad. Sure Dumbledore told you not to write anything important, AND-" here he glared at Hermione who had opened her mouth and closed it promptly. "They may have been scanning your letters, but I can't believe you gave up so easily. I would have developed a new code language for you, I would have found a way if you were in my shoes. "

Hermione sniffed quietly, Ron's ears had gone pink. "Dinner's ready." Ginny passed by, but stopped at last moment. " Oh hi Harry, didn't know you're here. I expected some shouting to be honest." She grinned.

Harry shrugged, smiling. "Yeah, well. Let's get going, I'm starving." Ron and Hermione got up to leave at once, looking relieved. Harry let them reach the door and then asked casually, "So Ginny, how's the summer?"

"Oh, well enough" Ginny shrugged and Harry was pleased to note that she seemed to have gotten over her shyness around him. She had hung back to let Ron and Hermione pass and joined Harry as they took the stairs, "We moved in here early into the holidays. This is the Order headquarters you see, and we're the maintenance crow."

Harry kept his face straight, "Maintainance crew, you mean? Hey listen, thanks for the catalogue." Ginny smiled, "I saw you wrote to Hermione for books." She added quietly, glancing at her. "She doesn't know, I just wanted to know how you were doing."

Harry fought between amusement and indignation, she was the twins' sister alright. "You are welcome to write to me. " He smiled instead and changed the subject, "The books were quiet cheap compared to Flourish and Blotts. They cost almost five times as much, I understand its second hand, but still."

"They are a muggleborn shop, aren't they?" Ginny said as if that was normal, even though she glanced at Hermione and had dropped her voice. "What-" Harry was interrupted by two loud claps and the twins had appeared on the landing, almost on top of where Ron and Hermione just descended. Several things happened at once, Hermione let out a startled shriek, curtains blew out from what looked like a window but on closer inspection turned out to be a portrait and a woman began to scream profanities at them and the world in general, one twin gave Harry a salute, the other gave Ginny an exaggerated wink, they both cuffed Ron on the head simultaneously and disappeared with another loud crack. They reappeared in front of the kitchen for where they proceeded to collide with Mrs. Weasley who had come out with a spatula in hand. Sirius came loping next and neatly jumped over the Weasley pile, up the flight of stairs and slammed the curtains closed. There was a ringing silence for a moment and then Sirius tossed his towards the kitchen like nothing was wrong and said, "Come on Harry, aren't you hungry?" Harry closed his mouth and followed him down the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

The dining room was in various level of activity. Alastor Moody was talking to Arthur Weasley, Bill and Remus was studying what looked like a blueprint of a building, tea at their side. Bill looked up and hastily rolled up the parchment as he gave him a wink and a smile, Harry smiled back. Dumbledore was talking with Snape in a low voice in the corner, they both turned as Harry came in. Dumbledore was looking in his direction, but not meeting his eyes, which was unsettling, as if he had done something wrong already. Snape merely sneered at him, "Potter", "Professor" Harry returned with such accurate impression of his tone and expression that Remus snorted tea out of his nose and had to be pounded in the back to return to normal. Snape's scowl deepened. Kingsley nodded at him, lips pursed to keep from laughing. Snape and Dumbledore left together, the rest of them sat down to eat.

Sirius dragged Harry down with him to sit beside him at the head of the table. Mrs Weasley levitated a cauldron of peas and carrot soup to the middle of the table and Bill distributed bowls to everyone with neat flicks of his wand, she gave a flick of her wand and the ladle poured soup into each of their bowls and they tucked in.

The twins leaned forward to grin at Bill, "Soooo, how's Fleur doing?"

"Fleur, as in Fleur Delacour? The Beauxbatons Champion?" Harry asked.

"The very same." Bill answered, ignoring the wiggling brows of the twins."She is apprenticing as a curse breaker in Gringotts, here in London." Fred gave a leering grin, "And she asked for special lessons from Bill, to improve 'er Eenglish'" Harry grinned at that. Ron let out a dreamy sigh, prompting Hermione to him upside the head. Ginny was grimacing at Harry, "I suppose you are interested in her too?" "What? No no." Harry shrugged, a bit mystified at the change in her mood. "I figured bit of a support from outside could be a good thing. Plus she was the best in her year, she can't be too bad with a wand. Speaking of international cooperation, Hermione, have you kept in touch with Viktor?" Hermione nodded, chewing her pie. Ron scowled at Harry, Harry rolled his eyes.

The rest of the dinner passed quickly and soon Mrs Weasley was bringing out bowls of fruit custard. "So Harry" Sirius kicked back in his chair at the head of the table and peered at Harry beside him, "I'm surprised at you. Thought you'd have hundreds of questions." "Sirius" Mrs Weasley's voice held a tone of warning.

"Awesome custard, Mrs Weasley" Harry toasted her with his bowl of custard. Mrs Weasley looked startled at the compliment, but then she smiled and the weariness in her eyes seemed to melt away a bit. "I do have questions" he tipped his head towards Sirius,"but they can wait."

"Sirius" Mrs Weasley repeated and the alarm in her voice was back, "please remember what Dumbledore said." Sirius tossed his head,"Dumbledore said a lot of things Molly, which one are we talking about here?"

"The one where he said the children don't need to know everything about the order." She replied sharply. Sirius opened his mouth to reply, his eyes blazing, but Harry grabbed his wrist. Sirius jumped a little, Harry ignored the reaction and said calmly, "It's okay Mrs Weasley, I don't want to know everything. I'm sure Dumbledore has his reason to keep things secret. " Mrs Weasley seemed to lose some of her tension at Harry conceding her point and she shot Sirius a triumphant look. Harry filed that for later consideration and continued, "But I need to know some things, for example where Hogwarts is concerned. Not knowing anything didn't help me last year, if you remember." The table went silent at the reminder.

"Hear hear" said a dark voice, making everyone jump. Alastor Moody was scowling at everyone, most probably for not keeping track of people and surroundings. "The lad should get to know things that concern him immediately and directly."

Lupin cleared his throat, "Have you been reading the Prophet, Harry?" "Well" Harry shrugged,"I have been scanning the headlines and there weren't anything of note. So I guessed Voldemort is lying low." Lupin nodded, but his frown stayed in place. "You are right that he is lying low, regrouping to phrase it better. The ritual performed to generate his body has not returned him his full powers yet. But we have another problem, the ministry. I heard you saw how the Minister reacted at the news of his return."

"Went absolute bonkers, more like." Ron butted in. Mrs Weasley glared at him, but Lupin gave a small smile. "Well he hasn't changed his stance. He has removed Dumbledore from the Chief Warlock position. The ministry and the Daily Prophet are doing their best to slander Dumbledore and you, to take away any importance anyone pays to your warnings."

At Harry's look of confusion, Hermione cleared her throat delicately, "It's not really obvious. They are just making insinuations that make you sound like an attention-seeking little child."

"Yeah" Ginny added heatedly, "There was this story of raining spiders in a muggle town. They called it a story worthy of Harry Potter."

"So you see Harry" the earlier signs of levity was gone from Sirius's face, "You cannot rely on the ministry at this moment. You should act very cautiously around anyone associated with the ministry." Harry was staring at Sirius, he seemed more thoughtful and mature than his letters showed.

"And that brings us back to Hogwarts." Lupin picked up smoothly, his voice taking on the teaching quality which made anyone pay attention, even the adults. "You all remember the problem with the Defence Against the Dark Arts position. Dumbledore is trying to find someone as usual, but he has been unsuccessful so far. This year the ministry is paying close attention to Hogwarts. They have passed a decree that if the Headmaster can't find someone to teach a subject, the ministry will provide someone instead."

"And you must handle them very carefully if something like that happens." Sirius cut in, his face tinged with worry. "I won't Sirius, don't worry." Harry patted his arm. Hermione was beaming at him, Harry returned a puzzled look to her. But she had already zeroed on Lupin, "Professor, why does everything seem to happen at Hogwarts? I mean its almost normal for something to happen around Defense Professors, something always seems to happen to or around them. But why does the ministry care so much about Hogwarts? Shouldn't they be happy that Professor Dumbledore is out of their way?"

Lupin gave her an indulgent smile. "Firstly Hermione, I have not been your professor for more than a year now. So please call me Remus. Secondly, excellent questions as always." Hermione blushed a little at the praise. "But Hogwarts and Dumbledore have their own importance. Lets take Dumbledore first, he has been an asset and a threat to the ministry ever since his defeat of Grindelwald. Despite him refusing the nominations every time, every minister saw him as a threat to his or her position."

"That is why the ministry delayed to take action against Voldemort." Sirius ignored the subtle twitches around the table. "They saw that he was magically powerful. They hoped he would take the political route and he and Dumbledore will keep each other engaged."

"Fudge is a peacetime minister." Remus continued, "He doesn't know what to do now that Voldemort is back. But he doesn't want anybody to realize that and remove him from the position. His relation with Lucius Malfoy doesn't help either."

Harry gave him a wicked grin, "Remus, you make it sound like they are having an affair." Bill was unfortunate enough to take a sip of water right at that moment and choke violently. Lupin gaped at him, his mouth slightly open. Sirius howled with laughter, almost to tears. Hermione was trying her best to match Ron in getting red department. The twins were sobbing with laughter.

It took almost a full minute for everyone to calm down. Lupin cleared his throat, Ginny gave an involuntary giggle and tried to smother it with her fist. He gave her a very mild glare, "Well, as for Hogwarts, it's rather a long story. Let's continue this on another day. We don't want to turn this dinner into a history lesson, do we?" He gave a small smile. Hermione let out a sad half whimper.


	3. Chapter 3

As the dinner drew to an end, Harry turned to Sirius. "Hey Sirius, can we talk." His voice casual but his eyes were meaningful. Sirius looked at him for a moment, and got up with a simple "Come with me".

Number 12 Grimmauld Place was three storied building just like the other houses flanking it. But that was from the outside. Inside there were five stories and a basement. Sirius led him to the third floor. The floor above where he and Ron were supposed to share a room. There were to doors facing each other in the foyer. Each door held a pluck of tarnished silver; they read 'Sirius Orion Black' and 'Regulus Arcturus Black'. Sirius brushed his fingers on Regulus' door, such a sad and tender look in his eyes that Harry had to look away.

There was almost silent pop and an ancient and ugly house elf was looking up at them. "Master" he croaked "should Kreacher prepare young master's room?"

Sirius nodded absently, "Yes, Reggie would be proud to have Harry stay in his room. Don't you think, Kreacher?" Kreacher bobbed his head and disappeared with another pop. Sirius opened the door marked Regulus' and gestured him in.

The inside was spacious, yet not obnoxiously so. Regulus, who must have been Sirius' brother, was evidently a Slytherin. His room had tasteful hunter green wallpaper with silver accents and furniture of dark wood. There was a board with photographs and newspaper cuttings stuck on it. Harry moved to get a closer look. There was one picture of the Slytherin Quiditch team. In the place where seekers usually sit, was sitting a boy who clearly bore some resemblance to Sirius, same high cheekbones, dark blue eyes and long hair tied back, in pureblood fashion. He was a good looking boy, not as roguishly handsome as Sirius, but clearly Blacks were a family blessed with beauty. There were newspaper cuttings from Daily Prophet, speeches from the Wizengamot, reports of Death Eater activities, appearances of Lord Voldemort.

"We'll get rid of it." Harry jumped a little at his voice; he hadn't noticed that Sirius had moved closer to take a look at the board. Now he turned to Harry with a smile that looked like something James Potter would wear, "That will give you some space to have some of your stuff, eh? I'd like to see some Quiditch photos personally."

Harry gave a small smile back, his throat feeling oddly tight. "Let's not get rid of them completely. Some may be informative." He squinted at the board thoughtfully. Sirius nodded but gave him a puzzled look. "Harry, do you need new glasses?" Harry shrugged, "I don't think so, why?" "You seemed to squint a lot, that's all." Sirius went back to the desk and straddled the chair, resting his elbows on the backrest. "Maybe" Harry allowed, "I haven't got them checked for a while. I have always had problem reading boards though." Sirius gave him a long look at that, and then he sighed, "We'll just have to remedy that when we go to Diagon Alley this year." And left it at that.

It took Harry a few seconds to process that Sirius had said he'd go to Diagon Alley with him. But when he opened his mouth, Sirius was already talking, "You'll have to share the room with Ron tonight. We'll let things settle for now, and then you can move in here after breakfast." Harry nodded, his insides glowing with happiness. This was his godfather's house, and he will have his own room here. It was like his childhood dream had finally come true.

"Sirius, we have so many rooms in this house, why share rooms in the first place?" Harry sat on one of the armchairs beside the window. "We only had two or three rooms liveable when I first came back. The house hadn't been lived in since my mother died, that was thirteen years ago. It was full of doxies, and curses. My mother went mad before she died, you see? She probably cursed everything in sight. We have been recovering rooms bit by bit. Besides, we grow up living in dorms, so our sense of privacy isn't as strict as it could be, you know." Sirius smiled crookedly. "Off you go now, Harry. You've had a long day. We'll talk some more after breakfast; I have things to tell you. There are a lot of things you should know."

They walked out of the room together, Sirius ruffled his hair before he opened the door to his own room, part of a scarlet wallpaper and a bed similar to his, soon to be his- Harry reminded himself, greeted his eyes. Harry shoved his hands away with a grin and turned to go down the stairs; happily contemplating that Sirius will be just a door away from tomorrow.

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The next morning, Harry woke up feeling like he's just been told he was a wizard. It was very early, Ron was snoring. He freshened up and sneaked downstairs to the kitchen they had dinner last night. The house was silent, but there was a faint murmur in the wind that Harry couldn't quite place. He was in a good mood however, and went to rummage the cupboard for some tea.

There was a faint crack as Kreacher appeared beside his elbow, "Does young master need something?" Then in almost inaudible voice he muttered, "Young master is strong, mistress would be happy. Kreacher wonders why master befriends mudbloods and blood traitors."

Harry gaped at him; Kreacher was Sirius' house elf, wasn't he? "Kreacher" the stern voice startled both the boy and the elf; Sirius came in and sat at the head of the table "I would like some tea as well." Kreacher bowed with a "Yes master" and went to work.

Sirius was looking at Harry with a, well, serious expression. "Harry" he said at last, "I need to explain some more things to you. But we'll wait until after breakfast so we won't be missed." Harry paid him his full attention. Just then two teacups of fine china appeared in front of them, Sirius looked down at the cups, gave a thoughtful hum, and picked it up to take a sip. At his pleased expression, Harry did the same and almost sighed with pleasure. The tea was perfect. "And" Sirius continued, "Please don't mention Kreacher in front of the others. You must follow my lead in this, I'll explain why, trust me."

Harry nodded, he was pleased that Sirius didn't just expect him to obey him without question. Soon Remus stumbled into the kitchen, yawning and bleary eyed. He mumbled a greeting to them and disappeared into the cooking area to get himself tea.

He came back with a full teapot and only opened his eyes fully after he had finished two cups. But when he spoke his voice was warm and eyes bright, "So Padfoot, getting some time alone away from the competition?" He teased.

Sirius nodded absently, "She's being ridiculous, of course. But it's getting annoying." Harry looked between them, "I get the feeling that somehow I'm the topic of conversation here, even though I have no idea what's being discussed." Sirius snorted. Remus saluted him with his teacup, "We're just discussing the custody battle Molly seems to have entered with Sirius here."

"Gah?" Was the very thoughtful question that came out of Harry's m outh. Sirius sighed through his nose, "I don't mean any disrespect to her. I'm forever grateful to her for giving you some positives in your life. But she thinks she has adopted you, and she can make decisions on your behalf without discussing it with anyone, let alone you."

"Hmmm" Harry hummed thoughtfully, "and what about you, Sirius?" "Well" Sirius hesitated, "I am not really sure. On one hand I want you to know what is going on, I want you to be prepared for whatever may come. On the other hand I want to hide you away till you are older, a lot older."

"Wow Padfoot" Remus wondered, "Never thought you'd sound so mature." Sirius stuck his tongue out and proved Remus right.

Ginny came next, followed by Hermione, both of whom wide awake and obscenely chipper. Mr. Weasley came bustling next and disappeared into the cooking area, presumably to make breakfast.

Sirius winked at Harry and continued drinking his tea. Ginny got up to help her and soon racks of toast plates laden with eggs and bacons and poached tomatoes came floating onto the table along with jugs of pumpkin juice.


	4. Chapter 4

As breakfast was drawing to an end, there was a knock on the front door. There was a mischievous gleam to Sirius' eyes as he left the table to answer the door.

Moments later a woman's voice drifted in, "Ah Sirius, it's good to see you." And then a woman was walking in. The first thing Harry noted was that she was almost as tall as Sirius and extremely beautiful. And then Remus was pushing him out of the chair and onto the ground. Mrs. Weasley had fired a stunner, which the woman stepped aside with an amused expression. Sirius let out a sound like a canon blast out of wand, which made everyone go still and look at him.

"Calm down everyone" he said, "This is not Bellatrix as you might be thinking. Meet Andromeda Tonks, my cousin and mother to Auror Tonks whom you already know." Everyone calmed down at that, with reluctant murmurs.

"Now that everyone is breathing again" Sirius said with a smirk "Andy, please join me in the office. Harry, if you'd be so kind as to get to and follow us?" Harry shrugged and went to stand beside him. "Wait" Mrs Weasley was looking from one face to another, finally she settled on Sirius, "What do you mean 'Office'? Why don't we know about this?"

"It's a family thing Molly" Sirius shrugged "Only Blacks are allowed I'm afraid." And with that he grabbed Harry by the elbow and marched him out, Andromeda gave a little bow and followed at a more sedate pace.

Sirius led them to Harry's room, well the room he was sharing with Ron. "Go on Harry" he said "We'll take your stuff up in your room on our way up and get you settled. This is going to be a long day. Hope you can stay for lunch, Andy?"

"Hmm" Andy nodded, "I suppose I can tell Ted to handle my appointments today. We're going to have a light day anyway." Both of them watched as Harry walked into the room, dragged his trunk to the door and went back to retrieve his wand from below his pillow. Sirius gave him a scandalised look at that, "You spent the whole morning without your wand on you!" Harry flushed but argued back, "Well, it's not like we're allowed to use magic anyway." Sirius was shaking his head, "This is a magical house, Harry. Nobody is going to find out if you do magic here. Although, on further consideration, it may be better to wait till your trial before you cast anything from your wand." That seemed to jolt Harry slightly, he had almost forgotten about his trial, which was four days from now.

Sirius noticed his wide-eyed look and clapped him on the shoulder, "Don't worry kiddo, I haven't forgotten about your trial. Come, we'll talk about that as well." With that he levitated the trunk with a flick of his wand and led the way up the stairs. He opened the door to Harry's new room only to guide the trunk to the foot of his bed. Harry saw that room has been cleaned and the furniture were gleaming with new polish. Sirius turned back to him and said, "You can unpack and settle down after we've had our discussion. We have an Order meeting in the evening, and I want you to know everything and have everything planned before that." Harry nodded his agreement and they trudged upwards once again.

Sirius led them to the fifth floor and right to the end of the corridor in front of an empty patch of wall. Harry gave him a puzzled look, but he just grinned, took out his wand and made a small cut on the tip of his thumb. Then he pressed his bloody thumb on a small indentation on the wall that Harry could swear wasn't there before. Sirius cleared his throat and said in an oddly official voice, "I, Lord Sirius Orion Black hereby invite Harry James Potter and Andromeda Tonks into the private office of the Head of the House." Then he turned, winked at them, walked backwards and vanished into the wall. With an amused quirk of her lips Andromeda followed, and after a second of wrapping his head around this, so did Harry.

It was just like crossing to Kings Cross, inside was an office that looked more like something belonging to the Dean of an University that the Lord of a Dark Family. Sirius sat behind the chair and gestured to the chairs before him, "Make yourselves comfortable, we have a lot to discuss. Kreacher!" Kreacher appeared with a crack and a bow "Master calls for Kreacher"

"Bring us tea Kreacher and some gingerbread if we have them." Kreacher bowed and left. Seconds later a tea set and a tray full of cookies appeared, gingerbread taking the prime spot. Andy took one and sipped her tea, "You remembered my favourite, Sirius." She sat back with a smile "It's good to be back." Sirius smiled back, "Of course I did. Now to business, Andy, there are multiple reasons I invited you. But first, a bit of a history lesson is necessary for Harry here, as he has been kept ignorant of things he's supposed to know since he was eleven." Harry ducked his head a little at that. Sirius shook his head, "No Harry, it's not your fault, and we're going to remedy it, starting from today. Andy and I will work with you to bring you up to speed with your pureblood peers and beyond."

"Hmm, I suppose I should start from the beginning, I will try to give you a bit of a background on Potters as well, as far I know it." Harry sat up straight at that. Nobody ever told him much about his parents, apart from how they looked like and his father being an Auror.

Sirius took a sip of his tea and started, "The Potters and the Blacks dates way back, they were ancient by the time Hogwarts was founded. In fact Potters were one of the supporters of the founders when they founded Hogwarts and they sent their three children, Bartholomew, Marry Anne and Francis Potter alongside the founders' children for the first ever batch of Hogwarts. The Blacks followed their example three years later. It also helped that Francis Potter married Megara Gryffindor a few years after their graduation. Potters and Blacks were closely associated with each other, sometimes they married into each other's family, sometimes they fought, sometimes they were valuable allies, suffice it to say, they treated each other with respect. Blacks were revered for their mastery of battle magic, while the Potter's came from Peverell line, who were famous necromancers.

Your grandfather Lord Charlus Potter was friends with my grandfather Lord Arcturus Black in their youth. The bond only grew stronger when Charlus married Dorea Black, his sister. They fought Grindelwald alongside Dumbledore. Things changed during Voldemort's rise to power. Arcturus was getting old, he was contemplating passing on his titles to his son, my father, Orion Black. Orion Black turned out to be a bit of a recluse, who left the running of the family to my mother, Walburga Black. She was utterly devoted to the Dark Lord and his ideals, and she pushed every children of our generation to join his side. The Blacks never had much sympathy for the muggles, their cruelty towards small muggleborn children were well-documented by our ancestors. So it didn't take much to convince my cousins Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa. Andromeda changed her mind after she befriended and fell in love with Ted Tonks, a muggleborn student at Hogwarts. Regulus and I were quite small at that time, but we were groomed to be the perfect pureblood heir.

On my first train ride to Hogwarts, I met James Potter. We were cousins, but my mother would not let us meet despite Dorea being a Black. They were among the first to recognize the threat Voldemort could pose to the society and were very vocal about it. James came late into their lives, so even though he was a bit spoilt and had a sense of entitlement, he was subtly being raised to oppose bigotry and as a result Voldemort. Becoming friends with him started to change my perspective, your father could be very charismatic when he put his mind to it.

And then I went and got sorted into Gryffindor. My mother would have disowned me right after she got my letter, but Grandfather intervened. He could clearly see that his son was unsuited to lead his family and held hope for me to succeed him. It was him that had me declared as the heir apparent to the Black fortunes. Another thing that had me reconsider everything I had been taught so far was you mother.

Lily Evans was a small, frail looking muggleborn, who could resemble a dragon when she was angered. And she was powerful for a girl of eleven with an astonishing amount of control over her magic. She was doing controlled magic even before she got a wand. I had been taught that muggleborns were weak, but Lily was one of the strongest in our year.

My mother noticed these changes immediately and directed all her energy into moulding Regulus to her ideals. Regulus was two years younger than me, shy and pathetically attached to our mother, so it was an easy job for her. When he came to Hogwarts he went to Slytherin and wouldn't speak to me.

Our time at Hogwarts was like one adventure after another, I was a true outcast, I was too arrogant and rude to befriend muggleborns or half-bloods. I hated what the purebloods in our generation stood for. If your father wasn't there by my side, I would have been a really messed up kid. Even then we were a bit of a bully in school. We tried to intimidate children of the pureblood families, we thought it might discourage them" Sirius scoffed. Harry and Andromeda were listening with rapt attention.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The things you recognize, I don't own it. :-)

Sirius took another sip of his tea and continued, "Things started changing as we neared our graduation, there had always been Dark and Light factions among wizards and as their representation, among the Wizengamot. Dumbledore was long established as the leader of the Light faction. My grandfather, Lord Arcturus Black led the dark faction, your grandfather; Lord Charlus Potter was somewhat like a balancing factor. The neutral families would often depend on his stand to vote, thus swaying the decision.

So you see, there was no place for Voldemort in the picture, sure he could have taken the Slytherin seat, but the lords of the Dark Families were staunch supporters of Arcturus. So Voldemort took another path. He began to sway the next generation, he had grown quite influential among his classmates notably Abraxas Malfoy, Reginald Lestrange, Walburga Black, Cygnus Black, Tiberius Nott among others. After he got his base of followers, he started with their children, Lucius, Bellatrix were marked followers by the time we graduated. And then he moved to attack the three figureheads. He soon learned that Dumbledore was a league of his own, even after rituals to gain powers he was weary after facing him in a few duels. I suspect he saved Arcturus for last, to ensure that the lords of the dark families would not go against him outright.

It was a dark time, not just because Voldemort was showing his true colours and proving that there were no lines he would not cross to get what he wanted. It was darker because the war invaded homes, families. Brothers could not trust each other, fathers were afraid to get killed by his children.

And then Voldemort mounted an attack against the Potters. The Potter Castle at Pembrokeshire was razed to the ground after Charlus and Dorea managed to hold them off for a week straight. They fought like a pair of demons, Voldemort lost about twenty men. But it was a massive victory for him. Arcturus already feared assassination from both Walburga and Cygnus. He conceded his seat to Orion with the condition that I would be declared the heir, and retreated to Chateau de Blac in France with his wife Melania and put the house in lockdown.

Walburga gladly took charge of the family and pushed all the children to join Voldemort, and well, you know how that worked out. I had run away from home in the summer before sixth year, my mother had started using Cruciatus to make me agree to join the Death Eaters. Dorea took me in without a word. Lily and James had started dating in their seventh year, they were there when the Potters were attacked, I was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas and James had taken her to meet his parents. I think that was the first time they came face to face with Voldemort. They fought him and managed to draw him to a standstill for long enough to make their escape, Charlus and Dorea were already dead and James was severely injured, he would have died too, if it were not for Lily." Sirius' voice shook a little as he said that.

"I think that was the rude awakening we needed to finally grow up, James joined the Auror Academy, your mother and I joined the apprenticeship programs to become Unspeakables. Remus went to get a Defence Mastery. Andy and Ted had already started practice as a Wizards Lawyers and were slowly but steadily getting popular. " Sirius gave a smile to Harry, whose eyes had widened. His mother was training to be an unspeakable, is that why nobody told him what she did?

Sirius seemed to sense his question, "I understand that you don't know much about your mother, despite living with her sister." Harry managed not to scoff. "I can tell you about her, Lily and I grew close after we joined the training programme, however, it's not known to many, and we'll keep it that way. That reminds me, Andy, I wanted to ask you to handle the legal matters for the Black family. Can you handle that?" Andy looked startled at the question, but she composed herself quickly and answered, "I will be honoured to represent Black Family, Lord Black." Though her eyes remained bright and she couldn't seem to keep a small smile off her lips. Sirius assumed that oddly formal air, and asked, "Do you have the papers then?" Andy nodded and put her handbag on the table and tapped it with her wand. With a small pop, the handbag transformed into an attaché case.

She then opened the case and took out a scroll of parchment, scanned it briefly and handed it to Sirius. Sirius scanned it as well, nodded, signed the lower right corner, and sealed it with the face of a ring which was invisible a few seconds ago. The parchment flashed white and disappeared.

"Now that we have that out of the way" Sirius gave a satisfied nod, "Lets continue with the story."

"Ironically enough, it was Pettigrew who was first approached by Dumbledore to join the order. Pettigrew had joined the ministry as a Junior Assistant in the Department of Magical Transportation, and Dumbledore thought he would be a useful member to have. James joined after he completed his one years of Auror Training, Lily and I joined a year later, so did Remus. Lily and James got married soon after they found out they were expecting you. James asked me to be your godfather right away." Sirius and Harry shared a smile at that. Harry took the cup to take a sip, but soon found that the tea had gone cold. Andromeda took out her wand, "Allow me, Mr. Potter." With a nod from Harry she tapped the side of the cup and returned him a piping hot cup of tea.

"Thank you Mrs. Tonks, please call me Harry." Harry received the cup with a smile. Andy returned the smile with "Only if you call me Andy." As they both sat back, Sirius gave them an amused look and warmed up his own tea. But soon he turned sober.

"It was almost May when Dumbledore came to James with the news that there was a prophecy regarding the Dark Lord and they needed to go into hiding. He said the same thing to Frank Longbottom. Neither of them took it very well, the four of them were some of the best fighters we had. Frank and his wife, Alice were a few years ahead of us in Hogwarts and had gained a sort of legendary status among the aurors, no one dared to go one on one with them except a handful of Death Eaters. But as time passed Lily and Alice agreed that protecting you and Neville were their top priorities and agreed to go under the Fidelius Charm. Frank's Mother, Lady Augusta Longbottom was chosen to be their secret keeper." Sirius had to stop at this point, his voice shaking.

Andy gave him a sympathetic look and took up the story. "She must have done her duty well, because nobody knew where they were before they lifted the Fidelius. It was widely believed that Sirius was the Secret Keeper of the Potters, because unlike Longbottoms, Potters refused Dumbledore's help when he offered to erect the Fidelius for them. Lily was capable of doing that charm, then one day we forgot where the Potters lived and Dumbledore announced that they had gone into hiding."

"It was I who suggested we use Pettigrew as Secret Keeper. James had asked as soon as the decision was made. But I was already being followed. Both the sides had always kept me under close scrutiny even before I graduated. I did not want to risk getting captured alive by the Death Eaters, so I suggested using me as a decoy and using Peter as the real Secret Keeper. Then he could go into hiding as well and I could act as a bait to capture as many Death Eaters as we could. It sounded absolutely brilliant when I thought of it. James was already getting bored stuck in the house all day. He agreed immediately." Sirius spilled the tea the next time he tried to take a sip; his hands were shaking so badly.

"I think we all know what happened afterwards." Harry said hurriedly, beyond grateful that Sirius had trudged through so much of painful memories to give him some perspective. Sirius gave him a sad smile and nodded gratefully, "Yes, we do, don't we? Now, I want to tell about some of the recent things. Things that happened after I escaped. You know I was happy enough in Italy." At Harry's questioning look, he explained, "The Blacks own a private island in the Mediterranean. After I learned about Grandfathers death, I was pretty sure I would be granted access. I don't know what I was expecting to happen in the future, but then your name got pulled out of the Goblet of Fire. And when I heard everything I thought I might have avoided it if I was there and had a legal standing. And Voldemort resurrected himself before the year ended. Dumbledore instructed me to 'lie low' with Remus and secretly reform the order. I did as he said, but I did something more.

I had hated my family when I was young and did not want to have anything to do with them. But now that I thought, it was not all of the family that was against me. Grandfather and grandmother were good to me, my father was not present much during I was growing up; Aunt Dorea was also a Black. Besides I thought, it was time we used the Black's full resources to do some good.

So the first chance I got, I went to Gringotts to claim the Lordship and the family vault. And that reminds me, I want you to become the heir of the family." Sirius finished pushing a small ornate box towards him.

AN: As you can see, I am deviating a bit from JK's history of the Potterverse. I am following what she wrote in the series themselves, but please remeber this is AU.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own JKR's work, just playing in her sandbox.

Surprised, Harry looked up to meet his expectant gaze, Andromeda shot an amused glance towards Sirius. "But Sirius" Harry started, "I mean it sure means a lot to me, but do you not want to, you know, start your own family some day?"

Sirius gave him a pained smile at that, "There are more than one reason that I am announcing you the heir. James, Lily, Remus and I made our wills at the same time. You are the primary beneficiary in all of them." Harry had to swallow a painful lump at that. He sort of expected that from his parents, but know that Sirius and Remus had thought of him that way made his eyes burn. Sirius however avoided looking at him and continued, "In case of James and I, that means being heir to our houses. Grandfather Arcturus was alive for a few years after my incarceration; I was surprised to find out that he had also named you heir to the Black family in his will. Which brings me to his first and my second reason, Blacks are a patriarchal family, so no witch can inherit the headship. The only other male eligible for the title is Draco Malfoy." Harry's head shot up at that. "Ah, so you agree that it is last thing that should happen." Harry nodded at that. "And as to your question about me starting my own family, I'm afraid Azkaban has robbed me of that possibility in the future."

Harry gaped at him, "I'm so sorry Sirius, I had no idea." Sirius smiled at him, though his eyes remained sad, "No problem Harry, now, would you accept the ring?" Harry straightened up in his chair and reached for the box. It was made of obsidian, with the Black crest curved into the lid. Inside was a plain looking ring made of silver with an onyx set in the middle of it, the Black crest could be seen if one looked into the stone. "Wear it on the pinky of you left hand Harry" Sirius instructed. Harry slid the ring on the aforementioned finger and felt like an invisible finger was sorting through his head. Then there was a flash of light and the ring resized to fit his finger perfectly.

"Perfect" Sirius clapped once, "Andy, can you witness this as our lawyer and submit the necessary papers?" "Of course" Andy replied and put her attaché on the carpet. She leaned over to tap it once with her wand. The attaché seemed to grow four legs and shot up, forming a small roll top desk beside her. Harry couldn't help his smile of amazement at that; Andromeda carried a small part of her office everywhere she went.

Andy was busy sorting through rolls of parchment though; she skimmed through three of them at a time and seemed to be satisfied with one of them. She wrote some things here and there with an eagle feathered quill and handed Sirius the parchment with another quill that was pure black in colour. She then turned to Harry, "Harry, have you ever signed any official magical document?" Harry shook his head at that. Andy nodded, "Good, there are a few things you should know before you sign any. First, every magical document is a magical contract; it binds you in one way or the other. So you should always read everything and look carefully for any hidden clause before you sign anything. Now, the agreement becomes iron-clad if you sign something with a Blood Quill, which is the quill Sirius is using now." Indeed, Sirius had finished reading through the parchment and was signing underneath it.

"It uses blood for ink." Andromeda continued, "its illegal to use it except to sign Ministry or Gringotts contracts, and especially illegal to use on a minor without permission from your magical guardian, which in your case is Sirius."

Harry nodded his understanding and signed his name in the appropriate place. His hand stung a little but healed by itself almost immediately. Andromeda took the parchment back, signed her name and added a stamp. As she did so, the parchment flashed and vanished. Andy gave a satisfied nod, "There, it's done. Now nobody can protest it."

Sirius looked extremely pleased at that. "As I was saying" He took up the story again, "I went to Gringotts under a glamour and asked to talk to the Black Account Manager. Now, the thing about Gringotts is, they don't like Wizards in general, hence, they don't like the ministry. They didn't bat an eyelash that I was an escaped convict in the eye of the ministry. The fact that I never received a trial also meant they couldn't be held responsible for not stopping me getting my inheritance. So, Gladfang, the account manager verified my identity when I asked to see my Parents' and Grandparents' wills. I verified that I was indeed Lord Black before claiming the Lordship ring, or the magic may have killed me." Sirius shrugged, as if he said that it may have rained. Harry shook his head mentally.

"After that I came back to claim this house. I got attacked by Kreacher the moment I stepped in, I managed to restrain him long enough to let him know I was Lord Black now and he was bound to serve me. Same thing happened with my mother's portrait. Now, what you should know is that unwilling loyalty can be a dangerous thing, take Kreacher for example. He has served our family his whole life. He was personal elf to Pollux Black, my maternal grandfather when he was an elfling, later he was my mother's personal elf who came into the main branch of the family after her marriage. She hadn't bothered binding him to the main branch as she was ruling the house anyway. I rectified that and now he serves both you and me, Harry, as you are now the official heir, he is bound to follow your orders."

"But Sirius, how does that make him loyal willingly?" Harry asked. Sirius nodded with approval, "Good question, this has to do with how the bond works between house-elf and its family. House-elves are dependent on magic to survive. Sometimes when generations of wizards live in the same place, a house-elf may take residence unknown to its other occupants and help them unseen and unheard. In return they consume some of the ambient magic around the house."

"What do you mean by ambient magic?" Harry couldn't stop the question from escaping. Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but closed his mouth and took out a pocket watch from his robe pocket, looked at the time and frowned, "I'm sorry Harry, we'll have to continue this discussion after lunch or maybe after dinner. We have two more important matters to get done before we are called down for lunch. Andy has to get back as well." Harry nodded; he was learning more history from this discussion that he had learned in his four years of magical education, but if there were more important matters, he could always ask Sirius later.

Sirius leaned forward from his chair, the others mimicked him unconsciously. In a conspiratorial voice, he said, "I am planning to bring Andy back into the family." Andy sucked in a startled breath, Harry's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean 'bring her back'? Isn't she part of the family already?"

Andy gave her an affectionate smile, "Not officially, I'm afraid, Harry. I was disowned from the family for marrying Ted, who was a muggleborn." "The family was being driven by Cygnus and Walburga" Sirius explained, "both of whom couldn't stand muggleborns. On top of that, they had arranged for Andy to be married to Lucius Malfoy. When Andy ran away from home, they had to marry off Narcissa instead, who was sixteen at the time. It caused bit of a scandal in the Old Circle." Sirius grinned at Andy like it was a great prank she had pulled, she just rolled her eyes in response.

"Now" Sirius clapped gleefully, "We have to rectify the situation. We need more Blacks on our side of the equation. Now you may be thinking Harry, why not do it the moment I received the Lordship ring, why wait till now?" Harry nodded, he was thinking exactly that. "The reason is, we need two Black males to cast out or bring anyone back from or into the family. It was placed to ensure that the Lord can't just do as he pleased with the family, but in this case my father did as mother asked and Cygnus was all too ready to do it. Now that you are my heir and thus officially a Black, we can bring her back into the fold."

"Am I really? A Black I mean." Harry asked, a mixture of confusion, fear and heart-aching happiness raging inside him suddenly. "You are" Sirius replied proudly, "You have the Black inheritance to add to you Potter one. You are Heir Black now, but we don't want others to know about it just yet. We'll keep it inside the family for now." Andy beamed at him, and he couldn't help bit return a smile.

"Okay" Harry said, "So what do we have to do?" "There's a bit of family magic involved I'm afraid. There are multiple ways to disown someone from the family, I don't know what they used for Andy. But the foolproof way is to make the family magick witness it. I'll explain more about family magic to you, you need to learn about both the Potter and Black family magicks." Sirius said while writing something on a scrap of parchment. "But for now, we need to perform this little ritual." He handed Harry the parchment. At his questioning look Sirius merely said, "Watch carefully" and left the table to rummage into the cabinets in the office. A few minutes and an exclamation of "Aha! Found it!" later Sirius came back to the table with a small, curious looking bowl in one hand and a ritual dagger in another. The bowl was small enough to fit in the palm of Harry's hand, made of silver with a bottom of dark stone, studded with small obsidian as the Black Rings and full of runes inscribed inside. The dagger was also of silver with a bone handle, the blade was studded with obsidian as well. It was a beautiful, but dangerous-looking pair, quite like the Blacks themselves, Harry thought.

Sirius set the bowl and the dagger at the centre of the table and gestured to Andy. Andy took the dagger without hesitation and made a cut on her palm, which she held above the bowl and clenched her fist. The bowl flashed with magic at the first drop of blood, Andy made sure to cover the bottom of the bowl with her blood and recited in a solemn voice, "I, Andromeda Mira, born as the daughter of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, seek re-entrance into the family, so mote it be." and then she withdrew her palm and healed it with a twirl of her wand.

Next Sirius made a similar cut on his palm and passed the dagger to harry, "Your turn" Harry felt like he had become part of a cult, he noticed that the dagger was pristine even after Andy and Sirius had used it. He copied Sirius and made a cut on his palm. Sirius offered his bloody palm as if for a handshake, Harry shrugged mentally and grasped it with his own. Sirius held their joined hand over the bowl and as their combined blood dripped into the bowl, he intoned, "I, Sirius Orion, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, welcome Andromeda Mira back into the family. So mote it be" At his nod Harry looked at the parchment and recited, "I, Harry James, heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, second the welcome. So mote it be."

There was a black swirl of magic which entered the three of them. Harry felt a cold breeze blow through his hair. Andy was almost glowing with happiness, "Thank you Sirius, Harry. It's good to be part of family again." Sirius returned her smile, "Nice to have you back, Andy. We have a lot to do to build our family back up. Now, our last order of business today, Andy I need you to take over magical guardianship for Harry."

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I tried to write longer chapters, but lost patience :-)


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: As usual, don't own and everythin'.

Harry stared at Sirius, an uncomfortable lump in his throat. Andy was looking between them, "Sirius" she began hesitantly "have you thought about this?" "Yes, Andy" Sirius sighed, he shot a somewhat apologetic look towards Harry "I have thought long and hard. This is our best option. Too many people are taking a curious amount of interest in Harry's life. And I don't have any legal standing to protect him from the politics. Besides, Harry doesn't need a guardian, he has turned out to be a better person than most with a full family." He shot Harry a proud look that did much to calm him down. Harry returned a small smile.

"What Harry needs however" he met Andy's eyes, "is someone who he can talk to when there's trouble, for which I'll always be there, and someone who can stand beside him when he needs it and the wizarding world would listen, and I want you to take that role." Andromeda nodded seriously. "I also want a safeguard in place in case something happens to me. James and Lily had the right idea, but it didn't work out as they hoped. I can only hope that this time it will be different."

At Harry's questioning look, he elaborated, "Lily had insisted in naming potential guardians in case of their demise. I was their first choice, of course, but they also named Frank and Alice Longbottom, Edgar and Patricia Bones. You know what happened to the Longbottoms, the Boneyard was decimated three weeks before the attack on Godric's Hollow, only Susan, their daughter survived, Patricia had her hidden away with their house-elf. I wouldn't blame Dumbledore for placing you with your aunt, if not for the fact that he had already decided to keep you there, even before I was arrested and the Longbottoms were attacked. He probably has his reasons to keep you there even now, but he has no right to force it, and we certainly don't have to listen for him when we have other ways to keep you safe. "

Harry nodded, "Ok then, how do we do it?" Sirius gave him such a relieved smile that he felt bad for doubting him in the first place. Sirius clapped like an excited child, "Last order of serious business. Andy, if you please?" Andy shook her head in amusement, "You planned to for all this to happen simultaneously, didn't you? Very clever." Sirius almost preened at the compliment. She soon extracted another scroll of parchment for the three of them to sign. Sirius sighed as they finished, "Ah, now the first part of our mission is done. Now we begin training Harry." But he was interrupted by a tinkling sound that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Sirius stood up immediately, his wand slipping into his hand so smoothly that Harry almost missed it, "That's someone trying to cross the family line. Let's go. We'll talk another time."

Mrs. Weasley was waiting at the third floor landing, wringing her hands anxiously. Her expression changed to confusion and relief as she spotted Harry with Sirius and Andromeda. "Harry dear, there you are. I was coming to call you for lunch." "Oh thank you Molly" Sirius cut in, "We're starving, come Harry, Andy, I'm sure Ted can spare you this once." Mrs. Weasley looked at them for a moment and then led them downstairs.

The usually chatter trickled into a halt as Andromeda joined the lunch table in the kitchen, but resumed soon after. However once in a while someone or the other would peer at her subtly, or that's what they thought. Harry was surprised to notice the unhappy glances Mrs. Weasley was shooting Sirius and Andromeda, but he decided to keep silent until the need arose. He was not disappointed. As soon as the main course cleared from the table, Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry with a smile, "Harry dear, where are your things? I went to call you earlier from Ron's room and your trunk was missing."

Harry grinned at her happily, "Oh, don't worry Mrs. Weasley. I have moved to the same floor as Sirius. I'll stay in the room opposite his." Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth to object, but Hermione beat her to it. "Oh Harry" she gushed happily "Congratulations! I know how long you have been waiting for this." Mrs. Weasley closed her mouth slowly, eyeing Hermione curiously. Harry's cheek had turned a faint pink, he opened his mouth to refute her statement, but Hermione swatted him lightly in the arm, "Oh hush you, I saw how down you were when Sirius had to go on the run. I know how much you wanted to live with him. I'm so happy for you." She gave him a bright smile. Harry returned the smile and nudged her shoulder, "Thanks Hermione." He said gratefully, surprised but pleased with the unexpected support. Nobody tried to oppose his move after that; it looked as if Hermione's passionate assertion of how desperately he wanted Sirius' company had stopped anyone from saying something for fear of alienating Harry. Lupin gave a discreet thumbs up from Hermione's other side.

Soon lunch ended, Andromeda gave an elegant bow to the table and swept away with a billow of her dark blue cloak. Sirius retreated to the drawing room, which Mrs. Weasley was trying to rally everyone to clean up. As the pots and pans were clear from the table, Hermione came back in with a tottering tower of books in front of her. Ron turned to look when she stumbled in the doorway and moved like lightning to lighten her load. They both came back together, pink in the face. Ginny smirked at them from behind her Prophet. Harry raised his eyebrow with interest, he was unaware of that development, though now that he thought about it, Ron's tantrum at the Yule Ball made a lot of sense. Soon however all thoughts left his brain as Hermione started to interrogate him about the summer homework. He raised his hand in surrender, "I'm sorry, I haven't started yet. My trunk got locked away for the summer." Hermione didn't let that stop her, "Well, nothing stops you from starting now, does it?" Ron rolled his eyes behind her back. Harry went upstairs to fetch his Transfiguration books and rolls of parchment. Of course Hermione was not going to be satisfied with just the assigned book, she seemed to have at least two reference books per subject. Ron grumbled a bit, but started as well and was rewarded with a smile from Hermione which turned his ears pink.

Soon there was only scratching of quills and turning of pages to be heard in the kitchen. It was second time in his life that he was free to study as he wished, Harry mused as he finished his first draft for the essay. The first time happened when he stayed in the Leaky Cauldron before the start of his third year. He remembered with some amusement, that even then it was because of Sirius that he got that opportunity. The minister would surely have sent him back to the Dursley's if it wasn't for the fear of Sirius being on the loose. He stretched, cracked his fingers and took a fresh roll of parchment to start on his Charms essay. He asked to borrow Hermione's book, who merely hummed and pushed the pile towards him, too absorbed in her own essay to speak. Harry shook his head fondly and cracked open her textbook, it had her name written on it in her neat loopy script, and there were scraps of parchment wedged between pages crammed full of notes she had made. Silently impressed but not really surprised, Harry took special care to handle her books and notes and started on his own essay.

It was Ginny who threw down her quill first. Harry's vision was already starting to blur and the letter in the book stopped to mean anything. He looked up, relieved that he wasn't the only one. "I can't do this anymore." Ginny announced and stood up scraping her chair loudly, Hermione huffed, but kept her head buried in her books. Ginny look around and spotted Harry who couldn't suppress a smile, she said, "Well, are you coming?" and without much ado walked out of the kitchen. Harry put the Charms book carefully on Hermione's pile and followed her out. She did not go upstairs as he expected, but ducked under the staircase and after some fiddling, managed to open a door that was invisible in the dark. Beyond the door was a small backyard that was as dilapidated as the house itself. Surrounded by houses on all four sides it hardly seemed to receive a ray of sunlight and was overgrown with weed. But Harry had spent the last most looking at the mechanically perfect lawn of the Dursley's and his very soul seemed to breathe easy at this display of chaos.

"Careful" Ginny said, "There may be some Devil's Snare somewhere around here." Harry nodded and stepped out a little, confident that he would be able to spot a Devil's Snare easily enough after his close experience in first year. Ginny hesitated for a second, and then followed him out.

Harry opened his mouth to say something and closed it slowly, having no idea what he wanted to say. He had never talked with Ginny much, not only that she used to get tongue-tied at the sight of him, but as he had recently discovered, he himself did not talk to many apart from people he already knew. He had no idea what kind of a person Ginny was, though he got the idea that she took more after the twins.

"What did you mean last night, about Flourish & Blotts being muggleborn shop?" Smooth Harry, real smooth, he told himself after the question shot out of his mouth against his better sense. Ginny blinked at him, "Well, it is to impress muggleborns. It's like two different countries, isn't it?" Harry stared at her, he had never thought of it that way. "What do you mean?" He asked, interested. Ginny tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, "I don't really know all the facts, only some when dad and Bill will get into debates. Ever since the Statute of Secrecy, wizards and muggles have developed differently and now it's like two different countries, only, the muggleborns have no choice but to come to Hogwarts. So it's like having to welcome a bunch of foreigners into your country. We try to impress them, Diagon Alley is mostly to impress muggleborns, the Ministry strongly regulates what you can stock in the shops, make sure it's safe and everything. But also they are overcharged; the exchange rate is high for muggle money. You get things a lot cheaper in the side alleys." Ginny shrugged.

Harry nodded thoughtfully, looked like he knew about his world about as much as the average muggleborn. But he had another question, "Why didn't you tell this to Hermione, surely she would have appreciated it." Ginny shrugged, but she looked uncomfortable, "Mum said they don't treat muggleborns right, they would never sell anything to Hermione and knowing her she would insist going there herself and demand equal treatment or something." Her ear-tips had gone pink, same way Ron's did when he was embarrassed. Harry felt sorry for Hermione, knowing that she had to spend more money than required to buy the same supplies, but he knew Ginny was probably right about her reaction. He remembered that the Weasley's seemed to split up every time they had gone shopping together and he now thought it may not have had to do with saving time alone.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: This is a shorter one, real life has gotten busy. And I have gotten hooked into the Merlin fandom, so you may expect a little bit of fangirl seeping through. And may I say how awesome it was to receive so many encouraging reviews, you guys are fantastic. On with story, enjoy.

Disclaimer: Don't own the Universe, just playing around here.

There was an order meeting after dinner, so Mrs. Weasley wasted no time in shooing them all out of the kitchen. Harry was hoping for Sirius to step in and say the he could stay for the meeting, but Sirius merely gave him a wink and tossed his head, which Harry took to mean that he will tell him later.

They spent a few minutes trying to eavesdrop on the meeting through something called Extendable Ears that the twins have invented. But Ginny informed them that Mrs. Weasley had put an imperturbable charm on the door to prevent exactly what they are trying to do. With a quiet groan, the twins drew back the strings of the ears and climbed back to their rooms, for once foregoing apparition in favour of a more silent departure. Ginny and Hermione followed their example sans the groan, Ron clapped him on the shoulder once and retreated to the room he and Harry was sharing last night. Harry felt a little lighter at this show of support. As critical as he was about them sometimes, Ron tended to be defensive about his family at the same time. Harry was afraid of his reaction after the way he and Sirius had brushed Mrs. Weasley off every chance they got, even though they tried to be sneaky about it. Ron had a very bad habit of being perceptive at the most inconvenient times. But he seemed to be taking it well so far.

Harry hadn't noticed when his feet had led him to the door of his new room. He entered the room, closed the door quietly and just stood in the middle, taking it all in. This room had a feel of belonging to it that the room in Number 4, Private Drive could never dream to achieve. If his room in Private Drive was grudging shelter, this room seemed to welcome him like stern but loving father. He sat on the window seat and looked out. The square where he had landed with the Order members was visible down below. It was dark and dreary.

He sighed and went to unpack his trunk, another first in his life, he had never bothered to unpack his trunk at the Dursley's. His trunk was a disorganised mass of robes and books and parchment. He took out his three sets of school robes and one set of dress-robe. I really have to get some new ones this year, he thought. He had grown a bit taller this year, to his relief. He did not bother with the clothes from the Dursley's, and that was all he owned apart from his school robes.

Next came books and parchments, he took them all to the desk which had a bookshelf attached to it. He stacked the parchments on his desk and made a mental note to get some more when he would go shopping. The books went to the bookshelf, which to Harry's delight, turned out to be a revolving one. Harry had enough books to only fill two of the shelves, he vowed to get some books for his own now that no one would be stopping him. The second hand Mind Magyc occupied a corner. He rolled the bookshelf and the back part came into view. It was full of books, to the brim. Regulus must have been a bit of a scholar, Harry thought. The books were worn, but looked to be well read and loved. Harry took out a leather bound book that turned out to be a journal. Embossed in golden letters on rich black leather, the cover page read, 'A Rune Master's Handbook' and a little below, 'Pollux Black'.

He shrugged and started to leaf through it. He didn't feel like sitting with his homework yet again, a bit of casual reading sounded like a good idea. He didn't hold very high hopes of enjoying it though. He had sat through Hermione's passionate speech in third year about how great Ancient Runes was and decided it was like learning a new language by remembering to write words. But he was surprised by the journal. Pollux Black wrote with condescending formality, but it was evident that he was indeed a master and held a deep love for runic magic. Harry lost track of time reading about druid symbols and history and soon Sirius was knocking on the door to tell him the order meeting was finished. Harry stood up with a smile and invited him in, the journal still in his hand. They sat on the lounge chairs near one of the windows, Sirius sighed and leaned back wearily. Two cups of black tea materialised at their elbows. "Bless you, Kreacher" Sirius sighed again and took a sip absentmindedly. Harry thought he saw a sparkle at the corner of the room. He took up his own cup and waited for Sirius to speak. Sirius however, took another sip, put the cup back on the side table, and closed his eyes. Harry went back to his journal.

After almost a minute later, Sirius seemed to shake himself awake and looked at Harry. "Sorry Harry, drifted off a little bit." Harry waved him off, "Don't worry about it. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just tired. Hard to keep my attention on serious business for so long." Sirius said with a roguish wink, but there was something bitter and dark larking in his eyes. He took another sip of his tea, grimaced at the coolness, and warmed it back up with a tap of his wand. "So the order meeting" he started, "Don't think you missed much there Harry. It's just the bunch of us trying to follow known suspects and giving report to Dumbledore. And lots of bickering about who should be doing what and why can't they do what they should be doing." Harry hid the twitches of his lips behind his teacup. "But there are some things of note. Now that you are here, members who were assigned to keep an eye on you have been freed, and secondly guard duties have been assigned to the Department of Mysteries. Dumbledore is very tight-lipped about what we are guarding, but I have a few guesses."

Harry sat up straight at that, Sirius smiled at him, some of the weariness leaving his eyes. "My maternal grandfather, Pollux Black" he nodded at the journal in Harry's hand, " was an Unspeakable, they are not supposed to talk about their job outside, but if you can count on anybody to find a loophole in anything, count on a Black." He almost preened at his own line. Harry disguised his laughter into a cough, though the attempt was half-hearted and fooled no one. "Or you could be a Potter" Sirius raised an eyebrow here, "and claim a very rarely known, but very real privilege of having an ancestor who founded the department." Now it was Harry's eyebrow trying to climb into his hairline.

"Yes, one Leonus Potter is credited with the founding of the department and it predates the ministry. In fact the ministry building is built around the department. Anyway, as I was saying, between my trainings and Grandfather Pollux's stories, I know a bit about the department. They study different stuff about magic and they have rooms dedicated to it. They have the Time Room, where they study Time, make time-turners. It might be one of the targets, last we know, one could only go back a few hours." Here he grinned at Harry, no doubt remembering his and Hermione's daring rescue of him.

"But they may have made some new discovery, though it is unlikely. Then there is the Death room, unlikely that something new has happened there, the Veil had stood as it is for centuries. Lily wanted to work on it after her training. No idea what she was thinking." Sirius shook his head, as if she had just told him the news. Seeing Harry's interested look, he amended, "Well, Pollux was also very interested in it as well, so he must have written something about it." Harry mentally vowed to read the journal inside and out, then and there. "Then you have the Love Chamber, no, not that kind" Sirius tried and failed to sound stern while Harry stopped trying to hold in his snorts. "Sorry" Harry wheezed, "So what's in the L-love Chamber?" Sirius chucked a cushion at him, "Nobody really knows, after three unspeakable failed to come out of it, they sealed it off. Then they have a room where they study memories, probably make pensives, I forgot what they call that room. Then we have a Hall of Prophecies. Which is where I suspect the target is. Do you remember I told you about a prophecy that made James and Frank go into hiding?" Harry nodded, "I believe that prophecy is recorded in the Hall of Prophecies, and that is what Dumbledore is trying to protect from Voldemort."


	9. Chapter 9

Sirius gave him some things to think about all right, Harry thought as he got ready for bed that night. He lit a candle on the bedside table and leaned back on the headboard with the journal of Pollux Black in hand. A glass materialized beside his elbow, full of warm milk. Harry smiled and said to the air, "Thanks Kreacher".

'Runic Magic is the oldest form of magic that the wizardkind may claim to have mastered. The connection to earth magic was hard to tap into. With the exception of Emrys, or better known today as Merlin Ambrosius, few could claim to perform magical feats without a sigil or staff. It was only after generations of druids practising magic that the blood of magic users were strong enough to connect to the magic of the earth.

It would not be wrong to say that runes are a kind of language, but it is like calling a wand a wooden stick. Runes are language, but not to communicate with people, but to communicate with magic itself, magic of the Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The first generation of runes were requests to magic, to lighten path in the darkness, to heal. And that is how one is to proceed if one wishes to understand the runic magic and how it came to be. For learning the history of it is to learn from the experiences of those that came before you, their struggles and triumphs light the murky path to learn any discipline of magic.

For make no mistake, magic is not a tool you use, magic is something far beyond anything you can ever hope to perceive.' Harry was lost in the book, trying to imagine a group of medieval people try and figure out how to communicate to something they did not understand, but cherished nonetheless. However, soon he became aware of a tapping sound coming from the wall. He closed the book and turned, puzzled, before he remembered that he shared this wall with Sirius. He smiled and shook his head, but soon his smile grew as he discovered that it was not some random tapping, it reminded him of something his history teacher taught one day when he was ten. He grinned as he recognised the Morse code. Though how Sirius came to learn about it, he couldn't guess. Sirius was tapping his name on the wall over and over. Harry tapped him back. Sirius, probably in his excitement jumbled up his answer and had to start over. He asked what Harry was doing awake, Harry said he was reading the journal, Sirius told him to go to bed as they had a long day ahead. When Harry asked what he was planning, he got a 'Now why would I tell and ruin the fun' and 'Goodnight Harry' in reply. He tapped 'Goodnight Sirius' and snuffed out the candle.

The next morning, he woke up again to the sound of tapping in the wall; Harry grinned and tapped a 'Good Morning' back. Minutes later, there was a knock on his door and Sirius was poking his head in after Harry asked him to come in.

"Come on, you lazy sod" the grinning face of Sirius poked in, "get ready, we'll have breakfast outside."

"Outside? Where?" Harry asked before Sirius could retreat.

"Diagon Alley, now get your backside out of that bed and get ready." With that and a jaunty whistle, Sirius disappeared down that hall. Harry got out of bed, brimming with energy now, gathered some Dursley Clothes, as he named them and headed to the shower down the hall only to hear it already running and a very off-key singing of Sirius. He rolled his eyes and came back to his room. But he was unable to sit still now that he knew he was finally going to Diagon Alley with Sirius. He had a feeling that this visit was going to be different from any other.

He was proven right when half an hour and two glamour charms later, Sirius apparated Harry just outside the steps of Gringotts. Between Grimauld Place and Gringotts, Sirius seemed to have donned his Head of the House persona as he steered Harry inside with a no-nonsense 'Business first, fun later'. Inside he strode straight to the head of the tellers and announced, "Head of the House Black on house business, here to see the account manager." The goblin nodded seriously, without the usual sneer and scratched something on a stone tablet.

Five seconds later another goblin arrived and inclined his head to Sirius very slightly, "Lord Black, if you would follow me, I will take you to manager Darnok." Sirius gave him a stern nod and started to follow him with Harry in tow.

Darnok was a wizened and frail looking goblin with sparkling black eyes. He looked on beadily as Sirius and Harry were led into his chamber. Harry had the feeling of being scanned from head to toe. No invitation to have seats came, instead Darnok handed Sirius a stone goblet full of a smoky potion and said in a reedy voice, "If you are indeed Lord Black as you announced in the lobby, swear it on your life and magic."

Sirius showed no sign of alarm or hesitation and even as Harry had to swallow against a suddenly dry throat, Sirius announced in the now familiar solemn voice, "I, Sirius Orion, swear on my life and magic that I am the rightful Head of the House Black, chosen by the house and the Family Magick, so mote it be" and downed the contents of the goblet, and then promptly doubled over. Harry made to drop down to see him but found a wickedly sharp blade on his throat, his eyes followed the blade to the hand of the goblin who led them into the chamber. He shook his with the same serious expression but made no further movement.

Harry looked back down only to see Sirius straightening up with a groan and when he did stand up, he seemed to stand just a little bit taller and a couple of grey hair seemed to have turned black. "Your verification potions seem to get nastier every time I visit." He said to Darnok who was now looking amused and gestured them to a pair of plush chairs in front of a desk.

Sirius took the chair with the same regal and unconcerned air as if this was a regular occurrence, Harry tried to follow his example, heart hammering in his chest at the thought of just getting Sirius back only to lose him to a bloody Gringotts potion. Darnok seemed to have sensed his mood since he turned to him with a slightly kinder expression and said, "Fear not Heir Black, no harm comes from the potion if you don't declare yourself to be someone you are not. In fact, as you can see, for correct candidates it works more like invigoration draughts." Harry wondered how Darnok knew about him being Heir Black but decided to keep his mouth shut for now and merely nodded at the goblin.

Apparently satisfied, Darnok turned back to Sirius and said, "Now, Lord Black, what can Gringotts do for you today?" Sirius started without further preamble, "I would like to establish a trust vault for my heir and have him be the sole custodian of the key. The vault would be refilled with five thousand galleons at the first day of every June." Harry opened his mouth to protest the unexpected change, but Sirius was not looking at him and he had a feeling that he was not supposed to talk while this 'House Business' was going on.

Darnok scratched something on the stone tablet and plucked a tiny silver key from a slot in the tablet, "The vault would be ready on your next visit, Heir Black" with that he handed the key to Harry, who took it with a quite 'Thank you'. Sirius gave him a proud look, and then said to Darnok, "Now, we would like to visit the family vault, and that will be all." Darnok seemed pleased at his down to business attitude, "Of course Lord Black, Flintaxe will take you to your vault." He gestured to the goblin standing behind them.

This cart ride seemed to last much longer than Harry's annual trips to his own vaults, Harry and Sirius both enjoyed it tremendously, whooping at the top of their voices. It seemed Sirius was not grown up enough to go green at the break-neck speed yet. The cart screeched to a halt as the track ended in what seemed like a narrow corridor. Sirius and Harry disembarked on the narrow ledge, Flintaxe following behind with the lantern in hand. He cleared his throat, Sirius and Harry flattened themselves on the rough stone walls, and he started to lead them forward, with his lantern bobbing in the dark. Harry didn't know how he knew, but he knew Sirius shrugged in the darkness and then by some mutual understanding, Harry started to follow the goblin, with Sirius bringing the rear.

They passed a pair of trolls, complete with their clubs, who didn't pay attention to them after the goblin grunted something at them. And next came the vault number 16 which was their destination, as Flintaxe was waiting looking impatient, even though they were right behind them. Sirius came forward and gave a go ahead gesture to the goblin. He ran a long and pointy nail down the middle of the door, in a similar fashion to what Griphook did on Harry's first visit. Sirius stepped forward next and ran his left hand through what looked like a crest. The stone door slid back from the middle like a modern day glass door. Sirius walked in with a 'follow me' gesture to Harry.

Almost an hour and a half, two bottomless bags jingling with galleons, well they were not really jingling, being soundproof in addition to bottomless, but Harry could imagine, and a spare wand, courtesy of one Astride Black nee Potter, that almost jumped to his hand like an eager puppy and was resting snugly against his right calf, later Harry and Sirius was sitting in a plush office belonging to Tonks & Tonks, sipping tea with Andy.

Andy was in her elements, they were discussing his trial the day after tomorrow, "I don't need to tell you that it's a political move. Use of underage magic goes to a small interrogation with Mafalda Hopkirk in her office, not a full trial. You may not have known Harry, but everyone in the Wizengamot knows that you are the Potter Heir, coupled with the Boy-Who-Lived part, you can wield more influence in the wizarding public than they would like." She evidently noticed his grimace at the moniker, for she leaned forward meeting his eyes earnestly, "Look, Harry, I know you don't like your fame and what comes with it. And that says good things about you, but think about this. If you don't learn to use your fame, you are letting others use it, And that is not doing you any good, is it?"

Harry frowned at her, he got her point, he really did, but- he sighed and gave her a nod. She gave a small nod back, giving him time to think about it, for now. She got back into her discussion with Sirius, leaving Harry free for his mind to wander. He looked out the window in her office. It was on the upper floor in Diagon Alley. He could see Ollivanders' Workshop, his shop looked more like a small tower from this vantage point, on an enchanted window beside it, he could see a patch of rainforest somewhere. As he watched a brilliant blue butterfly fluttered in a bush, a gigantic snake wound its body lazily along a branch as thick as itself.

Sirius seemed to have gotten bored with talks of the trial and was regaling Andy with tales of the Tri-wizard tournament. "So there I was, getting a tan in Sicily, And here come this letter from Harry that his name got picked for the tournament" Andy hummed thoughtfully, "Yes, the Prophet was quite full of it. Most of them seemed to think Harry had somehow managed to hoodwink the Goblet of Fire, which would have been very impressive." Harry opened his mouth to protest, but then noticed her amused look and stopped.

"It _is_ very interesting though, Harry, tell me about the selection ceremony." Andy said with a glint in her eyes.


End file.
